Stafford sets the standard at 4th Syd LeBron Memorial Putter tourney

Monday, August 25, Burapha – Stableford

With 50 players on tour in Hua Hin there was only a small field of 7 players at Burapha on Monday, playing the A & B nines from the white tees. The comp was won by Kerry Beck with 34 points, beating Bob Finley on count back. There were no ‘2’s.

1st Kerry Beck (13) 34pts

2nd Bob Finley (13) 34pts

3rd Bob Lindborg (22) 33pts

Monday, August 25, Springfield G.C. – Stableford

On Sunday morning around 50 golfers and friends left Pattaya for the four hour journey to Hua Hin to play in the 4th Syd LeBron Memorial Putter tournament, to join a number of Aussie boys who had already found their way there. This is the second of two competitions the Outback organise every year to Hua Hin, where they a play the wonderful Black Mountain and Banyan courses plus one other, this time being the turn of the Jack Nicklaus designed, Springfield.

John Stafford with Brad Jordison (right) and Mike Missler (left).

First tee time was 10 a.m. but the course was busy so we could not get away earlier and unfortunately our first two groups were both three-balls who found the pace of play quite slow, as walking players in front were just ambling around. Nevertheless, the course was in great condition even if the pace of the greens varied a little and although we played from the white tees, most found it long enough.

Two big hitting Aussies found themselves at the top Div A, namely Craig Brown and Brad Jordison, both with 38pts and they were followed home by Martin Grimoldby and Chris Voller on 36 and 35pts respectively.

Div B was taken by one of the firm favourites, the improving Kim Danboise with 37pts ahead of Siam Old Course member, Mick Leighton on 36. In third was the jovial Harry Vincenzi (35) and fourth, Denis Steele (33).

Another firm favourite, John Stafford, fresh from his third place finish in the Race2Bkk, continued his spectacular form to win Div C with 38pts, as Bryan Rought and Bob Poole took second and third, both with 36 and fourth going to Steve Taylor (33).

The scoring in Div D was markedly lower than usual as Bruce McAdam (33) hit the top spot and Tim Knight (32) was second, David Davies (31) occupied third place and a very surprised Suzi took fourth with 29.

Tuesday, August 26, Black Mountain – Stableford

We had heard so many stories about the condition of Black Mountain and all the construction work going on that I was prompted to ring the course to request a further discount from the normal festival fee. Needless to say, it fell on deaf ears but they did promise to look after us extremely well.

The course was virtually empty compared with Springfield, enabling us to get away about 20 minutes earlier than the scheduled tee time. About four of the holes had had some work done to the front of the greens which had been stitched back in extremely well and did not really interfere with play whilst all the greens had been cored and sanded, mostly half at a time and did not cause too many problems as the greens were generally running at a good pace.

On the tenth there was some major work going on with a new water feature which runs right the way down the left hand side from the tee box before crossing over to the right just beyond the drive landing area. We did have to negotiate round that a bit but it again wasn’t really a problem unless you wanted it to be, but I’m sure it will be great when it’s finished.

Again some great scores, the best by Bernie Stafford who posted 40pts to win Div C, which was really a computer software error as he should have been in Div B. Another Stafford, this time John, took second place with 39pts and Greg Hill and John Lawton returned 34 and 33 respectively for the minor places.

Hot favourite Andre Coetzee won Div A with 38pts, beating steady contender Mike Missler on count back and two more 7 handicappers took third and fourth, namely Brad and Jim Brackett.

John Pegrum (37) won the B division ahead of Denis Steele (35), Harry (33) and John Player, also with 33 whilst the D Div was again won with just 33pts, this time by David Davies, with Barney (32), BMX (31) and Bob Mattes (also 31) just behind.

There were six more ‘2’s today from Craig Brown, who had two on the 11th and the 14th, Ray Dell and Greg Hill both on the 11th and Bernie Stafford (8th) and Martin Grimoldby(14th).

At the turn, Joe (the new Black Mountain manager) had a chat with me about looking after the group regarding the condition of the course, “Would a couple of hundred bottles of Singha take care of the problem?” Well you certainly did us proud, with a virtually endless supply of free beer supplemented by ample portions of French fries and dips – a very generous and great gesture Black Mountain and well noted by all.

Div A (0-12)

1st Andre Coetzee (07) 38pts

2nd Mike Missler (07) 38pts

3rd Brad Jordison (07) 37pts

4th Jim Brackett (07) 37pts

Div B (13-16)

1st John Pegrum (13) 37pts

2nd Denis Steele (15) 35pts

3rd Harry Vincenzi (15) 33pts

4th John Player (16) 33pts

Div C (17-20)

1st Bernie Stafford (16) 40 pts

2nd John Stafford (18) 39 pts

3rd Greg Hill (17) 34 pts

4th John Lawton (19) 33 pts

Div D (21+)

1st David Davies (23) 33pts

2nd Barney Clarkson (24) 32pts

3rd Brian Maddox (24) 31pts

4th Bob Mattes (23) 31pts

Thursday, August 28, Banyan G.C. – Stableford

After the rest day for many, although some ventured out to play 9 holes of the par 3 course at Black Mountain and I believe one or two threatened to play Royal Hua Hin, the final round was as usual at Banyan. A little later start than normal here as the course was apparently busy (but it wasn’t) but everybody showed up which always makes the starters life a little easier.

The meet and greet service was back up to normal and Banyan had made the effort to produce Outback scorecards for the day. The course looked a little brown round the edges, not so much through the lack of rain but more because their generators had been down but one or two players did comment that it wasn’t up to its best. As well as that, we found out later that the course had been set up fairly short, which was again somewhat disappointing, however I had a chat about that with Stuart (the manager) and he said when we return in March, he will set it up the length we want.

So with a short course and once again ideal weather, the scoring was bound to be keen, one only has to look at Div C, where there were three players all with 41pts – Bob Poole, John Stafford and John Lawton – poor old Sugar had to be content with fourth with his 37!

Denis Steele won Div B with 38pts, beating Harry Vincenzi on count back, with John Pegrum, who won the longest drive contest as he drove to Pattaya and back on Wednesday to renew his visa, still having enough energy to score 37pts to take third.

Rod Crosswell lost two shots as he and Steve Taylor both played the wrong ball – just a case of Aussie & British language interpretation. Steve said to Rod, “Are you playing a Titleist ‘too’?” “Yes” said Rod, so Steve went ahead and hit Rod’s Titleist four!

As usual with these three day tournaments, the leaders go out last, they being John Stafford (2 day total 77), Brad Jordison (75), Mike Missler (73) and Bernie Stafford (72) – they came in with Mike Missler (42) winning Div A, John Stafford (41) 2nd Div C, Brad Jordison (41) 2nd Div A and Bernie falling away a bit with 34. What fantastic scoring from the last group.

There were only two ‘2’s from Craig Brown (again!) and Mike Missler.

Presentation for all three days went ahead at about 4.30 and Jack welcomed everybody to the 4th Syd LeBron Memorial Putter and particularly the eleven IPGC guys who joined in with the tour so spiritedly marking a great five days of golf when the differences between handicap systems were put aside. Well done to everybody for being punctual at all the events and well done again to every single one of you who attended the presentation – and that was everybody – and that’s a first! Thanks also to Rod Crosswell for his spirited “Nearest the pin prizes’ and thanks also to John Stafford for ringing the bell back at the shortly to be Outback Golf Bar in Hua Hin.

Div A (0-12)

1st Mike Missler (07) 42pts

2nd Brad Jordison (07) 41pts

3rd Andre Coetzee (07) 39pts

4th Craig Brown (06) 36pts

Div B (13-16)

1st Denis Steele (15) 38pts

2nd Harry Vincenzi (15) 38pts

3rd John Pegrum (13) 37pts

4th Rod Crosswell (14) 36pts

Div C (17-20)

1st Bob Poole (18) 41pts

2nd John Stafford (18) 41pts

3rd John Lawton (19) 41pts

4th Sugar Ray Handford (19) 37pts

Div D (21+)

1st Rod Howett (25) 37pts

2nd Tim Knight (26) 37pts

3rd Barney Clarkson (24) 37pts

4th Suzi Lawton (25) 37pts

Overall Result

1st John Stafford 118pts

2nd Brad Jordison 116pts

3rd Mike Missler 115pts

4th Andre Coetzee 111pts

T5th Jim Brackett 108pts

T5th Bob Poole 108pts

Friday, August 29, Green Valley – Stableford

As with Monday, many of our players were still away in Hua Hin and a small field of just nine played.

Bob Barnes resumed his winning ways after a couple of months away with 37pts to beat the resurgent Kerry with 36. There were no ‘2’s.